#1.4.3

Being a total bird nerd, I had to do a little dive into this somewhat bird-themed chapter of Les Mis.

What is an “alouette”? Many have heard this bird’s name through the children’s song “Alouette, gentille alouette” which is popular even in non-French speaking countries. An “alouette” is a “lark”, the common name for the avian family Alaudidae (which contains 100 species).

What type of lark is Hugo referring to in 1.4.3? It is almost certainly the Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) or “Alouette des champs” in French.

[Image ID: A small brown and white bird (Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)) on a wooden fence post.] [Credit: Natural England/Allan Drewitt, 2015. https://flic.kr/p/vDvojm]

This species has been referenced in literature throughout history, likely due to its proximity to humans and its distinctive song. The Eurasian Skylark lives in open habitats such as fields and pastures and has an incredibly long song which it sings persistently while in flight.

So why did the townspeople choose to call Cosette an alouette? The text tells us that Cosette is a:

“...trembling, frightened, and shivering little creature, no bigger than a bird, who was awake every morning before any one else in the house or the village, and was always in the street or the fields before daybreak.” (Hapgood translation)

The Eurasian Skylark is a relatively small bird around the size of a sparrow (17.5-19.0 cm). They forage on the ground where their plumage can make them nearly invisible. They are also said to be the first bird to sing in the morning. I couldn’t find any scientific evidence that this is true, besides learning that their “ground song” (sung by both males and females from the ground) is mostly sung in the morning. However, I did find some cultural allusions to this idea.

“Au chant de l’alouette” (literally translated as “at the singing of the lark”) means “very early in the morning” or “at the crack of dawn” [wiktionnaire]. (Though I don’t know anything about the usage of this phrase, i.e. how much it’s used or when it’s from.) From wikipedia: “Ethnomusicologist Conrad LaForte points out that, in song, the lark (l'alouette) is the bird of the morning, and that it is the first bird to sing in the morning, hence waking up lovers and causing them to part, and waking up others as well, something that is not always appreciated.”

My guess is that since the skylark is a small, drab bird that is often found flittering on the ground and is generally considered to be the first bird to sing in the morning, Cosette was dubbed “l’alouette” by the neighbors.

"Had this mother returned to Montfermeil, at the of these three years, she would not have known her child. Cosette, so fresh and pretty when she came to that house, was now thin and pale. She had a peculiarly restless air. A sneak! said the Thenardiers.

Injustice had made her sullen, and misery had made her ugly."

In the neighborhood she was called the Lark. People like figurative names and were happy to give a nickname to this child, no larger than a bird, trembling, frightened, and shivering, first to wake every morning in the house and the village, always in the street or in the fields before dawn.

Today was the end of Vol 1; Book 4!

39 chapters read, 326 chapters left

Friendly reminder that Chou Chou is canon-- “They fed her on what all the rest had left—a little better than the dog, a little worse than the cat. Moreover, the cat and the dog were her habitual table-companions; Cosette ate with them under the table, from a wooden bowl similar to theirs.”

The Thernardiers treat Cosette poorly and continually demand more and more money from Fantine.

Maybe... maybe this time through Fantine will decide to say, ‘screw this’ and go get her daughter when she stops being able to pay the Thenardiers. Maybe this time through it will get less sad. Why does this have to be so sad?

Ahem. Anyway, this chapter is awful and dreadful and I honestly don’t think I have more to say about it? Oh, I do have this: “It was thought Cosette had been forgotten by her mother." Not abandoned, not left behind, forgotten. That’s such a harsh judgment to pass on someone, doubly so because we’ve been in Fantine’s head and we know how much Cosette means to her. (It also means that the Thenardiers are concealing not just the payments but also the letters -- you don’t write monthly to ask about the welfare of a child you’ve forgotten.)